While the region’s first Vintage Festival heals the wounds, a new co-operative movement take over retail outlets and hotels. There is also a move to modernise the local wine industry.
World War II has devastated the globe, with more than 60 million lives lost. In the Barossa there is suspicion and distrust between fourth generation English descendants and their fellow Barossans of German heritage. While the region’s first Vintage Festival heals these wounds and a new co-operative movement take over retail outlets and hotels, there is also a move to modernise the local wine industry. Colin Gramp, a descendant of Johann Gramp, returns from World War II via the Napa Valley in the USA where he has observed modern winemaking practices and in 1947 makes the Barossa’s first dry red table wines since the 1860s – a Special Reserve Claret, predominantly made of Shiraz with the addition of some Cabernet Sauvignon. Colin becomes the father of the new Barossa and one of its most prominent innovators.
